The Female Fusion Podcast!

Show transcription

[INTRO] Hi there. I'm Jen Blandos, the founder of Female Fusion Network. I've been an entrepreneur for over 20 years with experience in building seven figure businesses and working around the world. Originally, I'm from Canada, but I've been living in Dubai for the past 14 years. I've created this podcast to share my insights and expertise as a global entrepreneur and help other women start, build, grow, and scale their businesses. You'll also hear from some of the world's top experts and female entrepreneurs who will inspire and motivate you to achieve your business goals. So join me as we explore all that the world has to offer and build the business of your dreams. Let's get started. 

MAIN EPISODE

00:00:54 Welcome to another episode of Women on the Rise. Today's episode is something that I've wanted to record for quite a while and it's a topic that I hear so often from other female entrepreneurs as well. And today I'm going to talk all about intuition and the intuition that we can have as female entrepreneurs and how we can use that in our business. And it's really interesting because as I've gotten older, as I have more experience in owning a business, I've really started to realize how important intuition is in running our business and how we need to learn how to lean into that a lot more. And it's funny because I've really been exploring this topic for the past couple of months and speaking to friends of mine who own businesses as well and talking to them about if they use intuition in their business or not.

00:02:03 And it's funny that different people respond to intuition in different ways. And when I first started my business, and we're talking 20 plus years ago, that even if I had intuition, I didn't have the confidence to lean into that. And I've been looking back over the past 20 years of owning my businesses and I realized that even 20 years ago, the intuition that I had, the feelings that I had, were pretty much always right. And I've been asking myself, why is it that even though that intuition ended up being right, I didn't always listen to it? And I wonder if that sounds familiar to you at all as well.

00:02:58 Whether you're just getting started in business or you've had your business for a while, when it comes to running your business, taking decisions in your business, how often are you using intuition? Sometimes I kind of like to refer to that as thinking with our heart as opposed to thinking with our head and being very logical. Now it's funny because I look back at different situations, pivotal moments within my business, and I realize that the wrong decisions that I made were ones that looked great on paper but still didn't feel right. And there's a few different areas where I have found that intuition has been really powerful. And I don't know about you when you experience intuition or when you have that feeling what it feels like to you and every person experiences it in a different way.

00:04:02 So for me, intuition is that I get a feeling and I get a sense and I really lean into that energy a lot of times as well. If I don't feel good about it. It's something that I feel high up in my stomach. And if that decision doesn't feel right, it's almost kind of like my stomach goes into knots and it feels quite uncomfortable. And maybe I feel a little bit sick, and I've always experienced that, but I never really used to tune into that to run my business.

00:04:42 And when I look back over 20 years, I realize even from the very beginning when I first got started, my intuition was pretty much right. And I wanted to record today's episode to go into that, to talk about how we can lean into our intuition and how you can use it in your business. Now, how we run our business, it's personal for every person. But what I have found is that my intuition has almost always been right. And the first area that it's almost always been right in is hiring.

00:05:23 And I can remember this back from the very beginning that I would interview people now. Okay, when we first have our businesses in the very beginning, maybe we're not the best at hiring. And if you are in Female Fusion Networks membership, I have lots of stuff for you to help you hire better and to make those better decisions. But chemistry and the energy that you get off of that person is also very important. So I remember in the very beginning of my first business, now that business I also owned with my ex husband and I've spoken about that before and he and I had very different views in how a business was run.

00:06:11 And this often happens with business partners as well, right? That I very much thought with my head or so with my heart and he very much thought with his head. He was very analytical and so it's good to kind of have people on both sides of that. But I always found that when I would interview people that I would just get a sense and I would get a sense even if they answered all the questions right, if they came across on paper as really, really great. I have always had very strong intuition about people, but I didn't trust myself in the beginning.

00:06:51 And I don't know if this sounds familiar to you, it definitely was for me that I just didn't trust myself and I would go, oh, this is crazy. Like these feelings, you need to ignore these feelings because if you look at that candidate on paper, they look great, they have the experience that you need, they have the skills that you need, they have all of these talents that you're looking for, for this role. So inevitably they would get hired even the ones where I just felt that there was something that wasn't right about them still got hired and there were other people in the equation and I wasn't the only person making the hiring decision. And so everybody would kind of laugh at me and be like, oh, there's Jen thinking with her heart rather than with her brain. Look at our job interview matrix.

00:07:51 This person has the high score, definitely they should be hired. But there's some areas, especially when it comes to people, that it's not just about what happens on that interview performance matrix and assigning people points. There's also the softer skills and there's the energy of that person and the integrity of the person. And I do remember that there were a few specific hires that I thought were fine but didn't light my world on fire and I didn't feel that energetically that they were right. And it's funny because I look back on that now and one of those individuals ended up stealing money from one of my businesses and I'm talking about quite a substantial sum of money as well.

00:08:46 And one of the other ones ended up putting fake invoices through the business to make it look like they were generating more money through the business than they were actually. And then I've had a few others where that situation has happened and they just weren't right for the role. But every single time when that happened I look back on that and thought, yeah, but I knew and why did I let the analytical side take precedence over the intuition. So when you are hiring, that is a really great way to lean into your intuition and also as well for you to really start to trust yourself on that. Because when we're hiring people for our business, we have the skills, we have the experience, we have all of these things that we want.

00:09:48 But I also believe very strongly that it's so much better to have that person who has the right energy, who has the right mentality, who has the right drive to fill that role and is going to fit in with your business. So that's a big one that I have learned that if you don't feel it's right when you're hiring people, pretty much you are going to find out later down the line that you were right, that they weren't the right person for the business. So when you are interviewing people for your business, when you're looking at hiring new people, do really listen to that intuition when you're hiring, the other area as well is our clients or our customers. How many times have you had a client or a customer and you've been like, oh, they feel like they're really hard work. But you know what?

00:10:51 I'm going to sign with them. I'm going to deliver this project, or I'm going to deliver these products to them. Because it's money and my business needs money, and I'm just going to go and do it. I've certainly done that. I'm sure hold your hand up if you've done that.

00:11:07 I think most business owners have. And again I look back at that and I realize that that was the wrong decision. And as I have grown as a business owner that I have really, really listened to my intuition. Because when I haven't listened to my intuition I've gotten into having a client or a customer who has just not been right for my business. So they haven't been right because they've been difficult to work with, difficult to keep happy.

00:11:41 You know, sometimes you always have some customer no matter what. They're never happy. They change their minds. They give you one brief, you deliver that brief and then they go oh no, actually I wanted this which is completely opposite from the original one. And in the beginning I wasn't very good at listening to that intuition and making those right decisions and I ended up getting myself into situations where maybe it wasn't the best for the direction of the business.

00:12:15 And so that is an area as well that if you listen to the intuition it's okay to say no. It's okay to say if you feel that that client or customer is not going to be right for your business it's okay to turn them down. And the thing that I've found is that when you do that it might hurt in the beginning where you think oh my goodness, I can't believe I said no to that business and it's going to cost me money. But actually it opens you up to deliver work for the client or the customer who is going to be your dream client. And I didn't used to believe that and I was really scared of saying no because I thought if I said no, it would mean that my business wouldn't succeed.

00:13:04 But what I didn't realize at the time is if I said no, I would end up working on a project or having a client that was just not right for me. And it would take so much extra time that it was time that I could have spent on new business generation or other clients or coming up with different strategies or products or services for my business. And instead it tied me up for hours and hours and hours, days upon days sometimes with clients who were not right for my business. So that is something as well that I've really learned to tune into my intuition on that. And it comes also as well to the direction of our business that how many times have you had your business and you've realized, even if it's doing well that maybe it doesn't feel right anymore.

00:14:09 And that intuition is kind of saying to you I don't like this or it doesn't feel right or it doesn't feel aligned. And we sometimes really hold on to that for quite a while because we're afraid of losing money, afraid of failing, wondering if it's right. And I did that for a few years and ended up delivering work and services that I just didn't want to do anymore. And it wasn't until I realized that it was time to let that go that it opened me up for new opportunities. And I used to find a little way around that where I would say, okay, I don't want to do the work, I don't want to deliver this anymore.

00:15:01 But if somebody asks me, I'm going to put a price so ridiculous on it that if they say yes, it's going to be worth my time. And I did that last year. I got asked to do something that I really didn't want to do. It's quite good at delivering, but I just felt like it's not me anymore. It doesn't excite me.

00:15:23 And as I get closer to hitting 50, I sort of look at things a lot more and go, does it bring me joy? Do I like to do this? Is it with people that I like to work with? Because if it does not, I don't want to do it. And I was asked if I would do something for a couple of days of work and at first I said no.

00:15:48 And they came back and they're like, please, please, we'd really like you to do it. And then I thought, okay, my get out card is that I'm going to give them a price so crazy that it's just going to be easy for me to walk away. So I gave them that crazy price and then they came back and they were like, okay, so can you send us a contract? And I had that feeling in my stomach, it was that just unease going, but you don't want to do it, Jen, you just don't want to do it. And so even though I had that crazy price, and I say to our members in Female Fusion Network sometimes that if there's something you don't want to do, but maybe you'd do it.

00:16:33 If it was a crazy price, I kind of call it the F off price, where if you pay me so much money, okay, yeah, I'll do it. And there are a number of business owners who will do that, that they'll jump in and deliver something if it's not what they want to do, if the price is right. And when I got offered that very lucrative sum, it was still like, I don't want to do it. It just didn't sit right for me. And I sat with it for a couple of days and thought, oh, do I do it?

00:17:07 I have to send them a contract, but I just don't want to do the work. It's not me anymore. And so I went back to them and I think they thought I was crazy. And I just said, I'm really sorry, I'm not able to make it work. And I referred them to a couple of other people because I wanted to be I believe in business, we have to be good with everyone.

00:17:32 Of course we need to set our boundaries. But I referred them to some other people and they were great and they delivered the work for them and they were really happy. So it was fine in the end. But I really realized there that when it comes to the direction of our business, that that really helps, right? That we really need to lean into that intuition that we experience.

00:17:57 And the same thing with decision making. How many times have you been faced with should I do X or should I do Y? Should I do A? Should I do B? And you can map it out, you can do all the scenarios, you can do all of these different things when it comes to your business.

00:18:16 But if you don't want to do it or if you just feel that slight niggling, you don't want to do it, you shouldn't have to go and do it. And I found that that has been really valuable for me as a business owner as well, to know that it is okay to rely on my intuition because do you know that intuition can really help you make quick, confident decisions? Oftentimes when we use that intuition, it's based on our values, it's based on our goals, it's also based on what we want out of our business and what we want out of our life. So don't be afraid to lean into that when it comes to decision making. Because sometimes, even if you map it out and you have your matrix or you have your list and it looks great on paper, if it doesn't feel right, if your intuition is saying to you no, don't do it, most likely it's not going to be right for you.

00:19:21 And I find that as well when it comes to problem solving and if there's a problem that oftentimes that leaning into that intuition is really going to help you identify creative solutions that if you would have been really logical, might not have come out the way that you want. Now, I know that those of you who are listening, who are very analytical and I love being practical, I love lists, I love strategic planning. I really believe in having a strategy and working out a plan to be able to run our business. But I've also realized as well with experience that it's a bit of having our strategy, having our plan, but then also as well relying on our intuition and understanding what works and what serves us. And that really helps us as well with being very authentic in how we communicate and how we engage with people, whether it's our customers or our clients or our employees, that authenticity is really important.

00:20:38 And when you lean into that intuition, it really helps you stay very true to your authentic self and your vision for the business. And we should never, ever feel the pressure that we have to do things certain way. Why did we go into business? We went into business because we wanted to do things our own way. We wanted to be our own boss, we wanted to have a work environment or a work situation that was going to be really positive.

00:21:09 And I find that when I listen to that intuition, it makes for a much nicer experience. But I find I was like this and I talked to other women as well, that we can still sometimes be afraid of using our intuition to run the business. So sometimes there's the, you know, we have the lack of trust. It's like, oh, I don't know if I can trust my intuition, that's just my feelings. Whereas actually, when I look at this strategic plan that I've put together, I've weighed out all of these things, the more logical thing looks better.

00:21:55 But it doesn't always go that way. That it's really important to lean into those gut feelings. We also have such a fear of failure and there's the pressure to lean more on data and facts to avoid the risk of failure. But remember, and I'm going to do a podcast episode talking about failures. And failures are great to talk about because this is how we learn and grow.

00:22:25 But again, I found some of the biggest failures that I've made in business have been because I didn't listen to that intuition. And instead I looked at the logical way. And the logical way just didn't serve me and didn't work for me. And this is where we need to stand in our power. This is one of my favorite words at the moment.

00:22:52 And have that confidence, to trust ourselves, to not have that impostor syndrome, to not have the lack of confidence in our abilities to go, I'm freaking awesome. I have this business, I've done something amazing. I have this knowledge, I have this experience, and my intuition is helping me lean towards this direction, have the confidence to do that and not be afraid of making those mistakes. Now it might not work and we'll learn from that as well, but that all goes as well to building up more of our intuition. But I think it's really important for us as female entrepreneurs to really recognize the value of our intuition because it's coming from our experience, our culture, our values, us.

00:23:51 Remember, our businesses are an extension of us. And so it's really important that we get over the fear of trusting ourselves and get over the fear of leaning into that intuition. Because what I found over the years is my intuition has always been right, pretty much. I don't even think that I can think of any situation where my intuition hasn't been right. Now in the short term, my intuition might not have been right or it might have looked like, oh yeah, Jen's, idea for this was not great.

00:24:34 Look at how wonderful things are that we've gone the logical way. But what I found is that six months in a year, in my intuition, was always right. And as I've gotten older, more and more, I am running my business on trusting my instincts and incorporating that intuition into all of my decision making processes. Everything that I do within the business, if it doesn't feel right, I don't do it. And I have found that it's brought me so much more joy in running my business, really focusing on running my business with more intuition, because it's become much more authentically aligned with me.

00:25:27 And what's the point of having a business if it's not going to bring us joy now? Okay? It's not going to bring us joy all the time. Trust me, when it comes to VAT and tax return time, that business does not bring me joy because I do not like doing admin. But in general, when it comes to the direction of the business, the ideas, things that we're doing, building a successful business, I find that my intuition, that experience, that knowledge, that journey that I've gone on, really helps me drive my business forward.

00:26:06 So I wanted to record today's episode to really encourage you to look at that and to look at how you can lean into your intuition more. How does it sound? Coming and joining me and ten other fabulous female entrepreneurs in Maconos, Grace on the 20th to 22 May, we are having our first Female Fusion Network retreat in the beautiful island of Mykonos, where we are going to be working on thinking big, thinking big in our business, planning our next big, bold business moves. Masterminding together, but at the same time slowing down to speed up. If this sounds like something for you, head over to Female Fusion Network, and why not apply to join us in Mykonos on the 20th to 22 May